Realm!

The heroes return to Artesia to deposit some shards they have collected. Westminster had pleaded with the party to delay their shard quest for a bit to assist a town in ‘tough times’ with rumors of dark magiks and kidnappings.

While in Artesia, the deva Maria revealed that several of the shards had unknown properties. One shard in particular caught the heroes attention and they found themselves reliving a memory from long, long ago when Realm was much younger.

The small duchy of Ontario Mills had come under the control of San Diego, a ruthless man in possession of a Shard-crown. The heroes snuck into the San’s castle through the sewer where they battled a horrible Gelateneous Cube. They discovered the evil San Diego had a warforged ally, a mercenary named I-5, who took the Shard-crown and tried to escape on a small airship. The heroes were mostly able to keep their footing and eventually defeat the mercenary warforged soldiers. With quick thinking from Euclid and quick piloting from Brookhurst, the Heroes were able to survive a crash landing in their brand new airship. Unfortunately, I-5 was able to escape . . . to the south.

The first adventure was a well-attended one. The heroes set out after the Map of Lord Bastanchury, said to allow its owner to find what he seeks. After saving the High King from Boners!, they headed out to the Swamp of the Old Hag where they met the beautiful hag Gwen Stefani, and was tricked into risking their lives exploring the Melting Pot, where a clay dragon put up almost no fight at all.

The traitorous hag was a little bit more difficult to defeat, but Knott was able to sneak behind the skeleton minions to fire some bolts of fey magic at her, toppling her from her cottage. Map in hand, the heroes set off to find the Lost Shards.